St. Stephen's Faith and Ours

Today, Dec. 26, we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr.  "Stephen," we are told in Acts 6: 8-10; 7:54-59, "filled with grace and power,  was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke...[Stephen's debaters] were infuriated, and...ground their teeth at him.  But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God....[Stephen's persecutors] threw [Stephen] out of the city, and began to stone him...As they were stoning Stephen, he called out 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Like Jesus on the cross, Stephen asked God not to hold the sin of his executioners again them. WOW! A man unafraid to stand up for what and for whom he believed!

Jesus tells us in the Gospels that, like Him, we will meet opposition, that we will be persecuted for our faith and testimony to the Father, just as Jesus was.  We will encounter the cross--misunderstandings, hatred, and an onslaught of  obstacles on our way to eternal life.  Will we, like Stephen, keep our eyes on Jesus! Will we look up to heaven from whence comes our help, as we are told in the psalms, or will we downplay our faith, water it down, to avoid difficulties that are likely to arise from detractors, unbelievers, or those who have chosen other gods? Will we join the "Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians" of our day and throw "stones" at those who disagree with us?

May we, like Stephen, stand up for what we believe,  especially when others want to debate us. Let us also hold on to God's promise that He will instruct us on what to say when we are dragged before the "tribunals" of our day!  God is with us always!  Let us not be afraid!

Bent Over as the Woman in Luke 13: 10-17

In today's first reading, Ephesians 4: 32-5:8, St. Paul admonishes us "to be kind to one another compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God,  Paul says to us, "as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God..."  Tonight, after praying my experience of being disappointed, frustrated and angry, I realized how much I need help to assume attitudes of humility and submission to the will of God as being revealed in the circumstances of my life. What was I actually doing? Trying to control circumstances and have them go my way, not the way of another person. I was assuming a position of domination, not submission, as Jesus did in His sufferings, death and resurrection.

When I came to reflecting on today's Gospel, Luke 13: 10-17, I realized that I was the crippled woman that Jesus healed--crippled, bent over as she was. From what? my need to be in control or to have others submit to my wishes and not me to theirs!  I spelled out the situation to the Lord, baring my soul to the Lord and asking for help.  And help was given me as it was to the woman who, "for eighteen eyes had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect."  When I asked Jesus to set me free, He said to me:  "...[Y]ou are set free by my sacrificial love.  When you fall into a trap that Satan sets for you, I will always set you free when you recognize the trap, acknowledge it, and ask to be set free.  I am always there with you ready to help!"

From time to time, we all fall into traps that Satan sets for us.   Share with Jesus a trap into which you  may have fallen and ask to be freed!  Jesus will respond as compassionately as He responded to the woman in today's Gospel!

From darkness to light: who will show us the way?

This past week was a week of terror for Bostonians, a week that thrust many into the darkness of tragedy.  Lives were lost. Individuals were maimed and others seriously injured in other ways. In West, TX, an explosion at a fertilizer plant claimed a significant number of lives, as well,and destroyed properties. In Chicago and in the Midwest floods inundated cities, cars were swallowed up in sinkholes. In China an earthquake rocked a city, claiming more than 160 lives and leaving thousands homeless.  This week's news begins with just as much violence and turmoil and dark, dark realities as last week's. Today's AOL news headings contain the following:    Myanmar Authorities Accused Of Organizing Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against Muslim Groups.. 125,000 People Displaced In Wake Of Attacks.. In Deadliest Incident, At Least 70 Killed In Day-Long Massacre.. 'They Killed Us Very Easily'.  Another heading reads: Hundreds Feared Dead In Damascus. And in still another,  Michael T. Klare, author and professor of peace and world-security studies, Hampshire College warns us of two nightmare scenarios -- a global scarcity of vital resources and the onset of extreme climate change -- [that] are already beginning to converge and in the coming decades are likely to produce a tidal wave of unrest, rebellion, competition, and conflict.

Who will lead us out of this darkness? Who will calm our fears? The answer to Christians is clear.  Jesus alone is our Savior!  Jesus alone will lead us out of darkness into light. Jesus alone will show us the way to new life when what we knew and loved is taken away from us. "Come to me, all you who...are overburdened, " Jesus says in Mt 11:28.  Rest, at peace, we will clearly recognize the path that will lead us to "new pastures." We also have Jesus' example when He, too, faced the hatred of those determined to destroy Him; when He, too, faced the ugliness of evil in this world.